(Courtesy of Patrick Gall)
Youth in the Northwest Territories interested in expanding their digital skills have a new means of cracking code with the launch of the NWT Robotics Challenge — a free and fully online series of workshops for students between Grades 6 and 12.
Leading off April 15 with a framework to design your own video game, each challenge will have a prize for the best completed project and anyone who completes all 10 challenges will be entered into a draw for a big prize.
"It'll be a bit of a competition. Most of the challenges will have a beginners, intermediate and advanced section," said organizer Matthew Dares. "There will be office hours for club staff who will help students out and take questions. Each challenge is an open-ended, design your own thing."
Part of the I.R.E.C Spring STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Challenge — an international competition that's part of the larger Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (I.R.E.C), the competition is headquartered here in Inuvik and hosted by the Inuvik Robotics and Engineering Club, but has students registered from all across the territory.
Partnering with the club to put this is are Computers for School, who are providing equipment for students who don't have one of their own, Skills Canada, who is sponsoring the prizes. Actua is also providing funding for kits and Aurora College is providing the outreach team to run the competition.
In addition to programming their own arcade classic, students will learn about robotics, electronic circuitry, 3D printing and other high-tech subjects. Student will design their own digital object to be printed by one of the Inuvik Arts, Crafts & Technology Micro-manufacturing Centre's (ACTMC) 3D printers.
Noting he already had 27 students signed up, Dares noted the workshops would not only give the students valuable life skills going forward, but also help fill the gap left out by the schools closing.
However, he noted it was also to help develop a strong robotics and technology program across the territory, noting the NWT was playing catch up with the rest of the country.
"We really did try to launch very quickly, because the window is pretty narrow to do something meaningful with youth through the end of the school year," he said. "We wanted it to last long enough that the skills can build and students can progress on these topics. Honestly, I would love to see a kid from every community — that would be amazing."
"We have a selection system that asks students if they're Grade 6-9 or Grade 10-12 or Other and I've had three people register as other already. If they participate and are having a good time, I'm not going to stop them.
Not wanting to leave anyone behind, Dares also noted he was able to accommodate students who don't have access to their own computer or smart phone. He advised that anyone with a strong interest in learning STEM and modern technology should contact him and he would see what could be arranged.
He added the age range of Grade 6-12 was also quite flexible, noting he had already recruited students outside of the range.
"People should definitely reach out, it's not a deal breaker. We're trying to solve the problem of people without laptops or internet," he said. "We partner with Computers for Schools and we're working with them to distribute some computers for this challenge. We've have five students sign up without computers so far".
To register and for more information, visit https://www.roboticsnwt.ca/